Fare collection box with water separator



FARE COLLECTION BOX WITH WATE SEPARATOR Application october 1, 1956, serial N6. 613,043 1 claim. (cl. 232;-7)

This invention relates to fare or toll collection boxes especially such as would beV uncovered, that is, exposed to the elements, and has for its principal object to provide such collection boxes with means for disposing of rain and/or snow which gains access thereto through the hopper opening provided for deposit of coins therein. Another object is to provide means which will wipe water and/ orV snowfrom the coin surfaces as they descend alongthe coin support. Another object is to provide means which will minimize the retarding effect of a film of water clinging to the surface of the coins when sliding downwardly along the coin supporting surface. Another object is to minimize the surface film on the coins and the supporting surface as the coins slide down the coin supporting surface, thereby to minimize adherence of the coins to the surface and erratic descent of the coins. Another object is to provide means for collecting and disposing of the film wiped from the coins as they pass over the coin support. Other objects are to provide means, for disposing of water and/or snow which enters the collection box and clings to the coin supporting surfaces and/or the coins, which may be incorporated in coin collection boxes with very little change in their structure, which is of simple design, easy to install, inexpensive and yet effective.

As herein illustrated the collection box has an inclined support on which coins travel downwardly behind a transparent window to a place for discard of bent coins and registration of good coins, below which there are separate containers for receiving the bad and good coins, the latter passing through the registering means prior to deposit in thev container provided for them and the former passing through a scavenging door manually or automatically actuated to drop them into the container provided for them. Customarily there is a hopper at the top of the box'into which coins are dropped, which hopper has at itslower end a slot through which the coins fall onto the inclined support, a guide chute between the slot and the support for conducting the coins to the support and inclined guides on the support for retarding the descent of the coins. In accordance with the invention the lower wall of the guide chute has a plurality of perforations therethrough and behind the wall there is an enclosure providing a chamber for collecting water which runs through the perforations for disposal. The perforations are staggered so that there are substantially no continuous straight line paths for rivulets of water to descend with or without coins into the registering and/or storage portion of the box. In addition the coin support has a plurality of spaced parallel lands and grooves, the lands being narrow enough to minimize surface contact of the coins therewith, to assist in wiping the coins free of water and to minimize film formation, and the grooves being adapted to collect and conduct away the water wiped from the coins so as to prevent access to the coin registering mechanism and/or storage container.

United States Patent 2,865,561 Patented Dec. 23, 1958 The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. l is an elevation taken in the direction perpendicular to the surface of the coin support, as seen through the overlying window at the front of the collection box;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the trap taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;-

Fig. 3 is a transverse Ysection taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical section from front to back through the upper part of the box showing the trap in side elevation. i

Referring to the drawings, there is shown for the purpose of illustrating the present invention an apparatus of the kind shown in application Serial No. 216,703, led March 21, 1951, in which there is a supported casing 10 which may be of sheet metal having a front panel or window 12 of glass or other transparent material through which the component parts of a fare, for example a plurality of coins of diiferent denomination, while separated one from the other, are fully exposed to view prior and subsequent to the registration of the coins. A coin hopper 14 of transparent material is mounted at the top of the casing 10 and has a fare receiving cavity 16 into which a fare may be deposited for collection. The hopper has an elongate slot at its bottom of a length to permit coins, up to a predetermined diameter, to ypass downwardly therethrough. The fare is guided, after passing through the hopper, by a coin chute 18, which'may be of metal or transparent material, so as to drop into a fare receiving chamber 20 which is located in the front portion of the casing and behind the window 12. The chamber 20 is dened by transparent upper and lower front wall portions 22 and 24 and a coin supporting plate or rear wall 26. This plate or rear wall 26 is lixed to the supporting frame 10 and extends parallel to but spaced from the transparent front wall portions 22 and 24 and is inclined to the horizontal at a suitable angle to insure the downward sliding of the coins at a limited velocity. Thus, for example the plate may make an angle of 60 to the horizontal, thus substantially reducing the speed with which coins, lying against the plate, travel as they move down through the chamber 20. d

The fare to be collected which, as above-noted, may consist of one or several coins, drops from the chute 18 onto the rear wall or coin support 26 and in sliding down comes into contact with inclined tracks, of which there may be one or more, one of which is shown at 27 which has an upper arcuate portion 28 and a lower straight portion 29. Coins delivered from the lower end of the arcuate portion travel along the straight portion 29 onto an inclined sorting bar 31 and are sorted as to thickness by the bar 31 which is spaced forwardly from the rear wall 26 to form a slot of a Width just suicient to permit a coin of normal thickness to pass down between the bar and the rear wall but to prevent passage of bent coins or slugs of a thickness exceeding that of a normal coin. Coins which can pass down through the slot drop into the lower portion of the chamber and are guided to a rotor 33 which forms part of the registry mechanism.

The rear wall 26 has a discharge or scavenger opening 30 which is located partly above and partly below the sorting bar 31 where tokens or slugs, unable to pass through the slot would normally collect.V The opening 30 is normally closed by a plate or door 32 which is so supported as to be manually or automatically movable into and out of closing position to said opening 30. To this end the door 32 has hinges 34 secured to its rear face.

With the foregoing brief description of the part of the collection box with which the present invention is concerned and without going into further detail as to the final disposition ofthegood or bad coins and the coin registry mechanism the means forseparotins water snel/ory snow from the coins and of preventing water and/ or snow from running down the coin supporting surface to the meter resisterinsnneansbelow-.the,sortinglbar flmwilllnow be dese-,ribedvwithfreferencer@Fiss..1, 21a-nd., 3,;infnarteular. 1 ,lntheraforesaidmachine,thereoin .ehu.te.;1;8. isnt-substantially rectangular@ ossfsecton and-has. a `bottom lor lewe Qltned vcr/all-fri/hieltlies.inthe plane-of the. plate 2.6 In :accordance -rtith thisiinverttionA the.; chute 18 is designed to serve as a water separat s wellas a chute and accordingly its rear; onlower wall40, (Fig. 2)., over which the coins slide as they pass from the slot;at the .lower-:end of the hoppentosthefsurtace ;of..the.snpnort Plate-:2,1%` isrroviderl. with a pluralitylof perforattons ;42 (Figs. 1 and 2). These perforations are made bypunchins; through the metal-.of the twall All .so as to Vdisplace andpar-tially. detaehfportions.rearwardly. therefrom in the Vform of semicirlcularlouvi'es `44. *The yperforations are arransedin transversely extending, spaced parallel lines and thelouvres in adjCent lines are staggered so that kloljeis no continuous straight line course downwardly ,along tfheurface along which rivulets of water could possibly Aflow andthus reach ,the plate 26. Behind the loweror 'bottom wall 40there is a collection chamber A6,(Fig.,2)1deiinedby a substantiallyvertical Wall 48, aforwardlyinclined ywallvl) and end walls l52 which are suitablywelded togetherand to the back or lower side o f-thc wall 40to forman enclosure and to deline the chamber 46. A drain conduit 5 5 is connected to the lowermost-part ofthe enclosure` to carry otwater which accumulates therein.

-Infur ther accordance with the/ invention and for the purnoseof, wiping water andmoisture which clings to thesurfaees ofthe coins from their surfaces as .they slide down thesupport 2 6, the support is provided with a vs triated surfacewhich as shown in section in Fig. 3, is .constituted .by a plurality-of narrow/ spaced parallel lands .5.4 and .intermediate grooves 56- `The narrow surfaces of;t.l1,e1ands54rednoe the fretilonal contact ofthe Coins vviththe surface th er eby reducing the tendency of the '.Qills to, cling to the surface and to move erratically as `they-descend alongthesurface. The sharp edges of the lands-atthe same time tend to wipe the moisture from thefsnrfaees ofy the coins which travel along a devating course as -guided by the tracks 27 thereon and this moisture, which is scraped or wiped off, collects in the grooves between the lands and travelsdownwardly, draining from `thelovver'end of thesupport 26 to a suitable place apart from the registry mechanism or the coin container. The support seonstitntedln partby the scavenging door 32 Iand this is also striatedas is plain from Fig, 1.

'Iflius by providing aperturesiu the chute 18 and striations on the supporting surface 2 6 along which the coins travel free Water and/or snow is removed from both the `eonfpath .and the coins so that water running down the coin support or clinging to the coins themselves is drained away and shtllanno reach the operativ@ mlllim of the register.

While the separating and wiping means described above is shown in conjunction with the coin box which forms the subject matter of the pending application referred to above, it is to be understood that it is not limited in its application to this particular collection box b ut may be employed in any collection box where coins pass through a hopper andV along a supporting surface to registering means or to a storage vault without necessarily being registered.

I claim:

Coin collecting apparatus comprising a free standing cabinet mounting at its top a cap having an upwardly facing wide mouth coin passage which tapers downwardly toward the interior of the cabinet, and within its bottom part coin registering means, a coin guide extendins downwardly from the lower .end .oftheooin passage to the Coin registering means,` seid eoinanirle comprising an -upper tubular part lhaving a flat bottom rcontaining a plurality of transversely extending, spacedparallel stag- .gered `apertures,cachot which has an upwardlyconvex curved edge-and aV transversely extending st raightedge meeting the-lower` ends of the4 curved edge,said curved edge carrying a bafcintegral Atherewith which projects downwardly therefrom at aY steeper angle'than the `slope of the bottomin which'theopenings are formed, an e nclosure mounted on the undersideof the bottom beneath the perforated portion for receiving water `draining lthrough the apertureSHsaidbafBes preventing waterffrom bridgingtheapertures and being again entrapped `by the coins, a lowerparthaving spaced parallel lands transversely thereof, and extending ,continuouslyfromythe upper tubular partdownwardly to the lower-,extremity of thel guide,the edgesof thelands being of rightfsection, fand afpluralityof-augularly disposed tracks pro- .jecting from theface of the lower part beyond the plane of the lands tor-reseivne the Aedges ofy eoinsslidins atwise downwardly onthe lands-and'for causingthe coins to travel transversely bacl `and forth vacross thelands to wipe anyremaining water from the surfaces of -the coins before they reach the coin registering means, the grooves between the lands being openv at their lower ends to permit water collecting betweenV the landsA to; escape to the underside of the guide.

References Cited in the file-of this patent -UNITED STATES PATENTS 

